


A Brother's Worry

by EscapingTheDarkness



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Flashbacks, Gen, Slight Klance - Freeform, anxiety attack, slight matt/shiro, slight violence and injuries
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-12-29
Updated: 2017-12-29
Packaged: 2019-02-23 17:42:11
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,114
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13195248
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/EscapingTheDarkness/pseuds/EscapingTheDarkness
Summary: "I've got a really bad feeling about this." Sure, Matt Holt might be a worry-wart where his sister is concerned, but that's usually with good reason. When a mission meant to gather intel goes very wrong, Matt can't help but remember all of the firsts he had been present for in Pidge's life. And if it weren't for Shiro, there's no telling what this panicked older brother would do.





	A Brother's Worry

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, everyone! This isn't my first fanfic, but it is my first Voltron fanfic, so I hope it isn't too bad. I really suck at summaries. Sorry about that. I hope you all enjoy!

“I’ve really got a bad feeling about this.”

Matt heard Pidge sigh heavily from in front of him. “You’ve said that about a dozen times already, Matt,” she replied in a weary sort of way. They were all tired and that was bad. Tired meant you were more likely to make mistakes.

“I know I’ve said it a dozen times and I’m going to keep saying it until we’re all safely back on that super flying castle with everyone else,” Matt replied tensely. He heard Shiro snort quietly behind him and he was tempted to ask what that was about, but decided to let it drop. “Something just doesn’t feel right about this. It’s too... trap-ish.”

“Trap-ish, huh? You didn’t have to come,” Pidge replied over her shoulder with a raised eyebrow before she looked forward once again. It was just them three on the mission. The other Paladins were on board the ‘super flying castle’ waiting for some sort of sign that backup was needed.

“Of course he had to come, Pidge,” Shiro put in before Matt could argue his point. “He would have gone mad up there with both of us down here, waiting for some great calamity to strike.” His tone was light and vaguely teasing, which made Matt very glad that the area they were in wasn’t entirely well lit so they couldn’t see his blush. Shiro’s teasing had worked to some degree; it had taken some of the tension out of Matt’s shoulders.

“Let’s face it. We haven’t had the best luck up here in space,” Matt replied over his shoulder, glancing at Shiro out of the corner of his eye.

Shiro made a quiet sound in response, his eyes going hazy for a moment before he blinked, a frown making its way onto his face. “That’s not good.”

Matt looked forward again and sighed heavily, stopping directly behind Pidge. The tunnel they were walking in had come to a dead end. “See? Told you I had a bad feeling. All that walking for nothing...”

“Oh, don’t be so pessimistic,” Pidge replied, waving her hand as she began examining the wall, a curious frown on her face. She tapped at the screen on her forearm for a moment before a blueprint of the tunnel they were in came to life. “We’re right here,” she said as she pointed. “And according to this, the path should continue on just a little further before you reach the main hub.”

“Well, apparently this thing is wrong because...” Matt motioned at the wall in front of them. “Solid cement. Or, whatever it is that Galra use as cement.”

Pidge shook her head, squinting from the screen to the wall. “No, no, there has to be a way,” she said quietly. Finally minimizing the blueprint, she walked up to the wall and knocked on it lightly a few times before motioning Shiro over. “Try touching it.”

Shiro seemed to have a silent debate with himself about that for a moment, finally stepping forward to do as Pidge asked. For a moment, nothing happened and Shiro just stood there with his Galra tech hand pressed against a seemingly plain cement –or, as Matt had pointed out, whatever the Galra used as cement – wall. But then the wall began to shift slightly. At first, they thought that it was going to open all the way, until it stopped, leaving a space barely big enough for Pidge to fit through.

“Do you think it’s broken?” Matt asked with a frown.

“Maybe,” Shiro sighed, trying to press his hand against various other places on the wall with no success. “There’s no way we would fit through there.”

“There’s no way that you two would fit through there,” Pidge replied, peeking through the opening curiously. “But me, on the other hand...”

“No, no, no, absolutely not,” Matt said sternly. “Did you not hear me say I had a bad feeling about this? This is the bad feeling! We are not separating, no way. Not happening.”

“Matt, come on,” Pidge sighed, turning to face him. “I can handle myself and the chances of anything else being on the other side of that entry is slim. There’s no sign of life in there, it’s just a hub. A hub, mind you, that may have information we need to take down Zarkon. Or maybe even find Dad. Don’t you want to find him, defeat Zarkon so we can go home, see Mom again?”

Matt practically wilted at that. “Of course I do. But...”

“Then no buts. I’ll be fine,” Pidge replied with a little mischievous grin. “No one’s better at taking down tech than me. I can probably get through there, get to the hub and get whatever weird doorway this is opened further for you guys.”

Matt sighed heavily and looked over her head at Shiro, who seemed to be weighing the options in his head as well. They had intel that this was a place they needed to check out. It was an abandoned main base that had only been vacant for a couple of months, they had been told. With Pidge and Matt’s skills, there was no telling what kind of information they could get against Zarkon.

“Fine,” Shiro said finally. “Just... be careful. And if you sense even the slightest bit of danger, you backtrack and let us know. Sure, we need the intel, but we can’t lose our Pidge.”

Pidge smiled at that and gently punched him in the arm. “Aw, no need to get sentimental on me,” she replied. Glancing back at Matt, she gave him a final smile before she started squirming her way through the entrance.

Shiro stepped back beside Matt, the two watching in tense silence for somewhere around ten seconds before Matt broke first.

“Everything going okay Pidge?” he asked through the helmet comm.

He heard her sigh heavily. “I’ve barely gotten started, Matt,” she replied in a dry tone. There was no worry in her voice whatsoever; his little sister seemed fearless, too much so when it pertained to her own safety. “It’s really dark, but I can get through. Good thing I’m not claustrophobic.”

“I kinda wish you were, because then you wouldn’t be in there right now,” Matt replied tensely, crossing his arms. He jumped slightly when he felt a hand on his shoulder, looking up to meet Shiro’s slightly concerned but optimistic gaze.

“She’s going to be fine,” Shiro said in a soothing voice, looking back toward the entrance. “It’s Pidge. She’ll make it work.”

Matt nodded faintly in response. Normally something like that would have made him blush or calmed him down, or done a strange combination of both. But the fear in his gut was growing. _Something wasn’t right_.

He was just starting to say, “Shiro...” when Pidge’s startled voice broke over the comms.

“What was tha –“

From somewhere down the incredibly slim entryway, there was a muffled explosion and whatever Pidge had been saying was cut short. For a moment, both men stood in shock, staring at the entryway until dust filtered out toward them.

“PIDGE!” It was Matt that moved first, shoving himself at the entryway and trying to shimy his way through, desperation causing him to tear at the stone. The space suit that they had given him was just a little too bulky to fit through but that didn’t stop him from trying. “KATIE! _KATIE!_ Answer me, damn it!”

“Matt! MATT, stop it! That’s not going to do any good!” Shiro shouted over the noise Matt was making, grabbing his arm and forcibly pulling him away from the entry. “Matt, look at me! _Look at me_!”

Matt struggled against him briefly, a sob catching in his throat. Whatever had happened, Pidge wasn’t responding. That meant she had either been knocked unconscious or...

It was hard to breath. He could hear Shiro talking to him, could feel him dragging him away from the entry, but nothing was really registering except the fact that there had been an explosion exactly where Pidge had been and that he needed to get to her. So he struggled against the force that was Shiro, even though he didn’t stand a chance, his mind unwillingly drifting back in time, spinning over snippets of memories in just seconds.

 

**_The day Katie had been born_ **

_He had only been eight years old. He had wanted a sibling for years, begged his parents for a baby brother or a baby sister, he didn’t care, whatever they wanted._

_And then along came Katie, an adorable, tiny baby sister with little chestnut brown fuzzes for hair._

_The first time he held her, his parents had cautioned him to be careful with her, that she was little and fragile. Matt wasn’t nervous, though. This was Katie and he was going to protect her and teach her everything he could._

_“Hi, I’m your big brother, Matt,” he said down to the sleepy infant. “I promise I’ll always take care of you, okay?”_

_Big brown eyes blinked up at him before she smiled sleepily. It had been her first smile and even though it had turned out to be an incredibly stinky gas bubble, he was still the first to see it._

 

**_Katie’s first steps_ **

_Six months after Katie had been born, he had just gotten home from school and thrown his backpack in its place by the door. “I’m home!” he called before walking into the living room._

_His mother looked up from where she was sitting on the floor with Katie and smiled up at him. “Welcome home, Sweetie,” she said in her usual loving voice. “How was school?”_

_“It was okay,” he replied. He decided not to mention the bullies had struck again. He walked over and sat cross legged across from them, holding out his arms to Katie. “We learned about...”_

_What he had learned about today faltered to a stop as Katie took three wobbly steps toward him, a beaming smile on her face. He caught her as she stumbled on the fourth. Looking up at his mother with wide eyes, he could see the equal parts shock and absolute joy on her face._

_“Way to go, Katie!” Matt praised as soon as he found his voice, holding the babbling Katie close to his chest. “You’re a genius already!”_

 

**_The first time Katie had said his name_ **

_Katie had been able to say ‘dada’ for about two weeks and ‘mama’ for about a week but Matt wasn’t discouraged in the least about when she might get around to saying his name. After all, he had gotten her first smile and her first steps. It wouldn’t be very fair to their parents if she said his name first, too._

_He was back from school a little later than usual, having stopped by the library to get a few books for studying. That didn’t stop Katie’s head from appearing in the window as he approached the steps, as if she had known that he was getting close to the house. She did that every day and it never failed to bring a smile to his face._

_He opened the door and didn’t even have time to set his backpack down before she had latched onto his leg, babbling up at him merrily. He chuckled and chunked his backpack to its place before bending down to pick her up, kissing the top of her head. “And how’s my little homing pigeon today?” he asked with a grin._

_She giggled and patted her tiny hand against his cheek. “Matt!” she said proudly, as if she knew what she said and as if she was claiming him as ‘her’ Matt._

_“Did you just say my name?” he asked ecstatically._

_“Matt! Matt!” she said against happily, repeating it a couple more times. Now that she had it down, she kept saying it, just like she had with ‘dada’ and ‘mama’. She clearly loved learning new words._

_“Mom, she said my name! Pidge said my name!” he called happily as he walked into the kitchen._

_“Pidge?” his mother asked with a furrowed brow. “Who’s Pidge?”_

_“Oh,” Matt said, realizing that he had just made up a nickname without meaning to. “Katie. I think that’ll be her nickname now. She’s always waiting when I get home so she’s like my homing pigeon. My Pidge.”_

_His mother smiled at that and shook her head in amusement. “I’m sure she’ll love that when she’s older,” she said sarcastically._

 

**_Pidge’s first day of school_ **

_“Are you ready, Pidge?”_

_Matt walked up to the elementary school, holding Pidge’s little hand in his own. She was the very definition of ‘cute’, her hair in two pigtails and sporting a pink dress with matching shoes. Matt knew the pigtails would be undone by the time he picked her up after school._

_“I’m ready!” she said happily, pumping her free fist in the air. “Learnin is fun!”_

_Matt chuckled at that, leading her up the steps and to her classroom. “It really is. And if you ever need any help with homework, you know I’ll be there, so there’s no need to be nervous.”_

_“I know,” Pidge replied confidently, as if that was an absolute given. She jumped over cracks as they passed them, humming to herself but never letting go of Matt’s hand._

 

“MATT!” He felt himself get almost violently shaken, forced back to the present and into his struggle against Shiro. “Calm down!” He was pushed back against the wall, held in place by Shiro. “Matt, look at me. _Look at me._ ”

Matt forced his attention away from the entryway to look up at Shiro, the struggle slowly seeping out of him. “Shiro... she’s in there... Katie’s...”

“I know, Matt. Believe me, I know. But we have to get out of here,” Shiro replied in a gentler voice.

“Wh-what? Are you crazy?” Matt asked incredulously, staring up at him in shock.

“Did you not hear over the comm?” Shiro replied incredulously, then shook his head. “I guess not, you were screaming too much. Green took off. She’s headed this way. Which means she’s going to barrel in here and guess what that means for us?”

“I... are you sure she’s headed this way?” Matt replied, swallowing heavily.

“Positive. The others said so and they wouldn’t lie about it. Green’s probably the only one that can get her out.”

Matt hesitated before nodding faintly. “Okay... okay, let’s go,” he replied hoarsely, shaking all over. The adrenaline was wearing off and he could feel some of the bruises he would be sporting from his mad dash to get to Pidge and the consequent struggle with Shiro. It made him wonder just how much force Shiro had had to use to keep him from bringing further harm to himself.

“Let’s move,” Shiro said, supporting Matt slightly as they made a run back the way they had come. It hurt to have to run away from Pidge, but Matt could tell from Shiro’s expression that he didn’t much like it either.

They had just made it to the entrance when the entire place shook, knocking both of them to their knees. “And that would be Green,” Matt said weakly, glancing back over his shoulder.

The two made it made it back to the castle about the same time that Green did. Matt threw his helmet off as he ran toward the Lion, hearing footsteps not too far behind him. Generally, you would not run toward an overprotective Lion like that, but by that point Matt did not care.

“Pidge!” he shouted as the Green Lion lowered her head, carefully opening her mouth. Without waiting for permission, Matt darted on board.

Pidge was lying on the floor. She wasn’t moving and for a moment, Matt froze, staring down at her in uncontained horror.

“No,” he whispered as he approached more slowly. “No, no, no, there’s no way...”

He kneeled down and watched as she took in a shuddering breath, feeling himself let out a breath as well. It didn’t come out so much as a breath, though, but as a sob.

Pidge was still unconscious, but breathing, that much was clear.

“We need to get her to the healing pod, now,” Shiro said from right behind him. “I’ll take –“

“No,” Matt cut him off, shaking his head. “I’ll take her.” He had promised he would always take care of her. He had failed in keeping her safe, but he could at least get her to help.

“Okay,” Shiro replied in an understanding tone.

Matt wasted no time in carefully lifting Pidge into his arms. Even with the space suit, she was light. To him, she weighed no more than she had the first time he held her. “Lead the way,” he told Shiro, his voice cracking slightly.

As they exited the Green Lion, he saw the others gathered around with worry on their faces.

Keith stood near Lance, his expression tense, with the look of one who had lost too many people before and couldn’t stand to lose someone else.

Lance looked horrified, for once silent. Matt noticed briefly that Lance had taken Keith’s hand, holding on tightly.

Hunk was the mother hen, tears in his eyes as he asked Matt if there was anything he could do to help. Matt at least had the state of mind to tell him, “We just need you to come for moral support.”

Allura, surprisingly, looked angry. As they passed, he heard her mutter something about the alien that had given them the intel paying dearly, something that Matt thought was very unlike the usually level-headed princess.

Coran seemed to be the least concerned of them all, stating that some time in the healing pod would have Pidge back to her normal self in no time at all.

Matt didn’t take too much time to take all of this in, following Shiro as quickly as he could without jostling Pidge too much. To him, it felt like it took too long to get to the room with the healing pods. When he glanced around, everyone had followed.

With Allura’s help, Matt removed Pidge’s helmet and the rest of her space suit, leaving only the simple black clothing they were underneath the suit. He could see where there were cuts and bruises and the thought of just how badly she might be hurt twisted his stomach. Once she was free of the space suit, Matt carefully carried her over to the healing pod and watched as it sealed her in.

“Now what?” he asked hoarsely, looking over at Allura.

The beautiful alien princess gave him a weak smile, one that didn’t quite reach her eyes, putting a hand on his shoulder. “Now we wait,” she replied softly before walking over to read Pidge’s vitals. After a moment, she let out a deep breath. “It shouldn’t be too long. There seems to be no severe internal damage.”

“Then why didn’t she wake up?” Matt asked tensely, facing the healing pod.

“She probably got really shaken up, Matt,” Shiro said gently, stepping up beside him. “Probably hit her head. Nothing this thing can’t fix. Lance nearly got blown up once, too, and it fixed him.”

“Yeah!” Lance said optimistically. “I felt better than ever once I stumbled out of this thing. Kinda like having a weird hangover at first, though...”

“Lance!” Keith hissed at him, knocking him lightly in the ribs with his elbow.

“Uh, not that I would know! And not that Pidge would know! Nope, definitely not!” Lance said quickly, grinning sheepishly.

Keith sighed heavily and took Lance’s arm. “We’ll leave you guys alone,” he said, fairly dragging an arguing Lance from the room.

The exchange nearly brought a smile to Matt’s face but his worry still overrode that as he looked back at the healing pod. She was so little and the image blurred with her as a five year old, grinning up at him as she ventured off to her classroom for the first time, fearless.

He didn’t even realize he was crying until Shiro put an arm around his shoulders and pulled him close, a surprisingly intimate gesture that felt much more important than just a comforting hug. Neither of them said anything and neither did Allura or Hunk, who stayed like a nearby shadow ready to help if needed.

Several minutes passed like that and even when Matt had cried himself out, Shiro didn’t let him go. Eventually the two ended up sitting against the wall, staring up at the healing pod in silent expectation.

“Hey, Shiro,” Matt said quietly after some time had passed. “I’m... sorry for fighting you back there.”

Shiro glanced down at him and gave him a reassuring smile. “No need to be sorry. I know the kind of fear you just went through. God knows how many times Keith’s done something stupid that resulted in great harm. We have some fearless siblings.”

Matt snorted quietly at that and looked down at his hands. “I know, but I still put you in a tough spot. I wasn’t thinking. And I’m still sorry.”

“If it bothers you that much, apology accepted, though I still say there’s nothing to forgive.”

Matt smiled faintly at that, glancing back up at him. “Thanks, Shiro,” he replied, his voice nearly non-existent now.

After a while, Keith and Lance returned, walking over to sit by Hunk, the three talking quietly amongst themselves.

Somewhere around an hour after Keith and Lance’s return, the healing pod doors opened. Matt surged to his feet and rushed forward, catching Pidge as she stumbled out, just as he had when she took her first steps toward him.

Pidge made a little groaning noise as she blinked, slowly lifting her head to focus on her brother. “Matt?” she asked quietly. “Wha... happened?”

Matt had to choke back another sob at that, cradling her close against him. “That entryway... there was an explosion after you went in. We still don’t know what happened. But Green got you out.”

Pidge blinked once, slowly, before dropping her head against him. “Oh,” she said quietly, sleepily. “I thought you ripped the wall down with your bare hands.”

Matt laughed weakly at that, kissing the top of her head. “I tried, Pidge. Shiro wouldn’t let me.”

“Well that’s not fair,” she hummed in response before opening her eyes again to look around at everyone else. “Why do you all look so worried? What am I, made of glass?”

That made everyone chuckle as they moved in closer, now that the sibling moment had been seen to.

“Of course not, we were just worried. You were beat up pretty bad,” Hunk replied.

“Yeah, you put my blow up incident to shame,” Lance said cheerfully.

“I don’t think that’s something to be proud of,” Keith retorted, but even he was smiling.

“All right, what Pidge needs is some food and rest,” Allura said after everyone had gotten a word in. “And Matt, Shiro, I don’t think rest would be a bad idea for you two either.”

“Right,” Shiro said with a nod, looking as though he didn’t mind following that sort of order.

“Okay,” Matt agreed hoarsely, letting Pidge go when he saw that she was more than capable of walking on her own. Now that someone had mentioned rest, he felt the weariness in his bones.

“Don’t worry, we’ll take great care of her,” Lance said with a nod, yelping when Pidge kicked him in the shin.

“I don’t need you taking care of me,” Pidge retorted as she started walking for the door on her own. She seemed only slightly unsteady.

“Everyone needs someone to lean on at some point!” Lance called after her in mock dismay.

“Dramatic much?” Keith snorted, following along and pushing Lance in front of him.

“I’ll whip up some of the best space goo you’ve had in months!” Hunk said from behind them.

Pidge rolled her eyes at the three but glanced back at Matt and Shiro with a smile. “Get some rest,” she mouthed to Matt before walking out the door with her strange friends.

“You heard the lady, let’s go,” Shiro said, nudging him along toward the sleeping quarters. “And Lance was right. They’ll take care of her, even though Pidge would never admit it.”

Matt snorted quietly at that and breathed easily, feeling more at ease despite his tired mind and body. His sister had settled in with a very strange group, but they looked after each other. It made him feel better that even when he wasn’t there, even if something happened to him, she would have them. “I know, Shiro. I know.”


End file.
